Apple Not Pleased With Wave of Additional Fake Chinese Apple Stores

In recent weeks, MMi has chronicled the ongoing saga of fake Apple stores popping up in limited quantity around China. So elaborate are the stores in their look and feel that it's nearly impossible to distinguish these clones from legitimate Apple retail stores.

Following a crack down earlier this summer, a handful of rip-off artists were shut down. But if you're under the impression that this problem is about to go away, think again. On Thursday, Reuters reported that approximately two-dozen additional unauthorized Apple retailers were caught in the act and swiftly shut down by authorities.

Sources close to Apple say the Cupertino, California-based tech giant is understandably displeased and a tad bit disturbed about the growing rash of fake Apple vendors and products that continue to cloud a burgeoning mobile market that Apple hopes to capitalize on to a substantial degree in the coming years.

In May, China was listed for the seventh year by the U.S. Trade Representative's office as a country with one of the worst records for preventing copyright theft, Reuters reports. But since China is so hungry for a bigger investment by Apple, it could very well be that China cleans up its shabby record on copyright protection - a reality that would benefit many companies from the US and around the world.